'It doesn't matter how we dress it up, that’s just the reality': Portsmouth boss on his pride at Oxford United point as injuries pile up

Colby Bishop levelled in the 78th minute to cancel out Kyle Joseph’s first-half goal, although the breakthrough arrived after the U’s had been reduced to 10 men.

The Blues were already without Marlon Pack, Tom Lowery, Louis Thompson, Joe Morrell, Joe Rafferty and Michael Jacobs – then lost Sean Raggett and Reeco Hackett before the final whistle.

It’s a Fratton Park point amid the backdrop of injuries piling up which pleased Cowley.

And while there was supporter frustration at a 1-1 draw against struggling Oxford, Pompey’s head coach could see the positives.

He told The News: ‘I am proud of the group, we have 10 injuries and it has been really tough.

‘We have our key players out in the middle of midfield and, when you have four players out in one area, it’s really hard to be able to find the rhythm and control we want, you can’t play to your game idea.

‘There are reasons for that. If you take Marlon Pack, Tom Lowery, Louis Thompson and Joe Morrell out of your team then are you going to be as good? No. You’re just not.

‘It doesn’t matter what we do, what we say, how we dress it up, that’s just the reality and any football fan would respect that and understand that.

‘Of course we lose Sean Raggett at half-time, who is a really key player to us, with a nasty-looking back injury and, in that moment, you can easily go under, you can easily feel like the world is against you.

‘But this group has substance, character, they have the bits you can’t give them and go to the end.

‘Any Pompey fan that follows the club knows the challenges at the moment in terms of where we are with injuries, but we are 18 unbeaten here, 18 competitive games, and that’s a proud record.

‘We are battered and bruised but we are Portsmouth Football Club and are never beaten.’

There were boos at half-time following a poor first-half, directed at both the team, performance and referee Sam Purkiss.

But Pompey were better after the break, albeit without really looking capable of taking the three points against their 10-man opponents.

Cowley added: ‘In the first half we weren’t brave enough, didn’t make enough angles for each other, that then meant we had to go longer and forced our play.

‘When we did play direct we didn’t do it with enough detail, but, saying that, we still had pretty good control in the game, we didn’t have any threat from them, they scored a brilliant goal from outside the box.

‘In the second half, Nicky (Cowley) wanted to change it and it was a good call to bring an extra midfielder in and give us some more passing options.’